Who is Ishtar?

‘Qadishu’ or temple dancers in ancient Sumeria, dedicated their love to service of the goddess, Ishtar. These sexual priestesses of love were ‘sacred women of the goddess’ or holy women. Through sexual embrace, a temple priestess could take a man into a state of higher consciousness, to a place where physical delight and spiritual ecstasy became one. The priestesses did not make love to seek admiration from the man — or simply to fulfill his, or their own, sexual pleasure. Their higher purpose was to worship the goddess and transcend individual needs. Thus the door to the divine opened. The priestesses became a conduit between the divine and the physical world. They sanctified sexual love for the goddess by tapping into the transformative and regenerative powers of sexuality.

Extract From Sexy & Sacred by Diane Riley ©